Twisting-machine.



H. H. c. GRONDAHL. TWISTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 5. I91!- I Patented Apr. 23, 1918.

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' fizz/977707 HiznslfinrJ/f C. Grondahi H. H. C. GRONDAHL.

TWISTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED} FEB. 5. mu.

1 %63A05. Patented Apr. 23, 1918.

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TWISTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5. I91

1,,Q63AQ5 Patented Apr. 23, 1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

L'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA/ Illa? 'fiwenZor H2715 Henrik C. Grondahi in sraas area HANS HENRIK C. GRONDAHL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TWISTING-MACHHVE.

neeaaos.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 23, 1918..

Application filed February 5, 1917. Serial No. 146,760.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HANS HENRIK C. GRONDAHL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Twisting- Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved twisting machine, and more particularly to a machine of this kind in which two or more strands may be twisted together to form a single closely interwoven unit.

One of the objects of this invention resides in the production of a machine in which improved means are provided for producing two complete twists of the strands for each complete rotation of the twisting mechanism.

A further object consists in an improved means of mounting the strand supplying reels and simplified, eflicient, and improved means for placing the reels on and removing said reels from the spindles on which they are rotated, together with means for preventing the operation of the machine driving means whenever the reel mounting means is in use for mounting or removing reels.

Another object comprises an improvement in the general design of the machine whereby the weight of the rotating twisting mechanism is reduced to a minimum and whereby the speed at which the machine may be operated is materially increased, thereby increasing the rate and efficiency at which the twisting operation can be performed.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawin s in which:

Figure 1 is a ront elevation of the twisting machine;

ig. 2 shows a similar view ofthe twisting machine with the supply reel bracket rotated through an angle of 90 degrees.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the supply reel bracket'as shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4=4 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2; I

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 88 of Fig. 2 and illustrates the means utilized for looking the reel supply brackets;

Fig. 9 illustrates the means utilized for holding the supply reels on their supporting spindles and the tool used in operating said means when the spools are removed from said spindles, and

Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the supply reel supporting and guiding mechanism.

The preferred embodiment of the invention herein illustrated consists of a machine for twisting insulated wires, but it will be quite evident that the invention is adaptable to practically any and all machines in which twisting operations are to be performed.

The operating elements of the machine in the specific embodiment are mounted in a frame consisting of a base 10, the uprights l1 and 12, and the upper cross rail lat. Any suitable driving means may be used such as an electric motor 15 which is mounted on the cross rail 14, the shaft of the motor 15 being connected to a suitable train of gears inclosed within the housings 16 and 17 whereby the movement of said shaft will be transmitted to the upper yoke bracket 18 connected to a shaft inclosed in suitable bearings mounted on the cross rail 14. The gears in the housing 17 are interconnected with suitable gears to the gears in the housing 19 which drive a shaft rigidly connected to the capstan 20. Secured to the upper yoke bracket 18 are the downwardly extendin yoke arms 21 and 22. These arms are tubular in form, the wire to be twisted being carried in the tubular chamber of the arm 22, as illustrated in Fig. 5, which is fitted with the slot 23 by means of which the wire maybe inserted and removed from said tube. The arms 21 and 22 of the yoke are connected at the bottom of the machine to the lower yoke bracket 25 which is mounted in a bearing 26 secured to the base 10 of the frame. The arms 21 and 22 of the yoke together with the upper yoke bracket 18 and the lower yoke brac et 25 constitute the flier of the machine. The bearing 26 functions merely to prevent lateral disp acement of the yoke, said yoke being suspended by means of the yoke bracket 18 secured to a shaft which is in turn suspended from the cross rail 14.

Mounted in the lower part of the supply reel bracket is a wire receiving tube 27, below which on the yoke bracket is mounted a wire guide pulley 28. A similar wire guide pulley 29 is mounted in the upper yoke bracket 18, said pulleys 28 and 29 being so mounted that the inner guiding surfaces thereof lie in substantially the same vertical plane, said plane being also common to the rotating axis of the flier. Secured to the vertical arms 21 and 22 of the yoke or flier by a bolt 2) are the brackets 8 and 7 respectively, in which is clamped an annular ring 6 by means of the bolt 5 which serves to strengthen'said vertical members against the action of the centrifugal force generated when the flier is rotating. The method of clamping this ring to the yoke is clearly illustrated in Fig. 5.

Suspended by the shaft 30 and the holding nut 31 from the upper yoke bracket 18 is the supply reel bracket. The supply reel bracket is clearly illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 and comprises a supporting member 34 to which are secured the spindles 35 and 36 which carry sleeves such as 39 on which the supply spools such as 37 and 38 are mounted. Each sleeve such as 39 carries a drum such as 46. These drums carry the brake bands and 46 which are connected to the common pin 47 and to the pins 48 and 49 respectively. The brake bands 45 and 46 also pass over an adjustable tensioning member 50 secured to the screw 51 whereby the frictional contact between the drums and the bands is readily adjusted. As the supply reels are secured to the drums by pins such as 41 which fit into holes provided therefor in the sides of the reels, the tension of the wire which is being unwound from the reels may be controlled by'properly adjusting the tension of the brake bands, and it is therefore possible to maintain a uniform tension for the wire which is unwound from each of said reels.

The spool or reel supporting member 34 contains an opening in its base 56, through which the wire supply tube 27 is extended. Attached to the supporting member 34 and directly beneath each supply spool is a projecting arm carrying a shaft, on each of which is mounted a guide pulley, these guide pulleys being clearly illustrated in Fig. l at 57, 58, 59, and 60. Directly beneath each of the pulleys 59 and 60 is another pulley 61 and 62, the axes of which are at right angles to the axis of the pulleys 59 and 60. The wire from the supply reels is threaded over the pulleys 57, 58, 59, and 60, the wires which are carried over the pulleys 58 and 60 being then guided through the pulley 62, and the Wires from the pulleys 57 and 59 over the pulley 61 to the wire guiding tube messes 27 from where the wire is carried over the pulley 28, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1.

Secured to the shaft 30 at the top portion of the supply reel bracket is a gear wheel 63 with which the pinion gears 64 and 65 mesh. Another gear wheel identical with the gear 63 is mounted on the cross rail 14 in a position so that its axis is common to the axis of the gear wheel 63. A pair of pinion gears similar to the gears 64 and 65 mesh with this gear which is attached to the frame of the machine, and these pinions are connected by the shafts 66 and 67 to the gears 64 and 65. pinion gears are secured to said shafts by the keys 68 and 69 and consequently said pinions and shafts rotate about the gear 63 and the similar gear attached to the frame of the machine Whenever the yoke is rotated. Since the gear attached to the cross rail 14 is station ary, it serves maintain the supply reel bracket stationary through the medium of its associated pinions and the pinions 64 and 65 and the gear wheel 63 secured to the supply reel bracket. in order that the supply reel bracket may be rotated when desired, it is secured to the gear wheel 63 by means of the spring pressed pin 70 illustrated in Fig. 7. The pin 76 is normally held by means of the spring 71 in an opening 72 in the gear 63 and is provided with a handle 74 by means of which the pin may be depressed against the spring 71 and removed from the opening 72 in the gear wheel 63. When the pin 70 is thus depressed the connecting link between the gear wheel 63 and the supply reel bracket is removed and said bracket is free to rotate.

Secured to the upright 12 of the frame by means of the brackets 86, 86, 87, and 87' and suitable rods, as illustrated in Fig. 10, are the two stiflening plates or bars 76 and 77. The brackets 86, 86', 87, and 87 are each fitted with bearings in which are journaled the shafts or spindles 78 and 7 9, on which are mounted in pairs the forwardly extending arms 80 and 81, and 82 and 83 respectively. Rigidly secured to the shafts 78 and 79 respectively are the counterweighted levers 84 and 85, one arm of each of which carries the counter weights 84 and 85 respectively, said counter weights functioning to turn said shafts so that the rods 80 to 83 inclusive will be maintained in their uppermost positions. The brackets 86 and 87 are fitted with ribs which contain the arcuate depressions 88 and 89. The rods 80 to 83 inclusive when thrown to their alternate position, as indicated in broken lines for the rod 82 in Fig. 1, serve as a supporting and guiding means on which the spools or reels are carried to the mounting spindles 35 and 36. For this purpose, as shown in Fig. 10, the rods are mounted in pairs in the same horizontal plane and are spaced so that the distance between the rod pairs will be such as to just conveniently accommodate a 2 small portlon of the circumference of the supply reels. When the reels are fed to said spindles the yoke is naturally displaced through an angle of 90 degrees from the position to which it is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. a i The normally horizontally positioned arms of the levers 84: and 85 respectively are fitted at their extreme ends with a plunger sleeve such as 90, as illustrated in Fig. '8. This plunger sleeve carries a handle 91 and an insulated metallic switch plug 92 which contacts with the connecting springs 93 and 94 when the plunger sleeve 90 is in its depressed position. The springs 93 and 94am connected in series in the circuit which feeds current to the driving motor 15 of the machine and are mounted in switch cases such as 95 which are secured to the mounting brackets 86 and 87. When it is desired to throw the guiding rods 80 to 83 inclusive into their horizontal position the sleeve 90 must be withdrawn from the switch chamber 95 which automatically opens the circuit of the driving motor 15. When the rods reach their horizontal position the sleeve 90 is pressed forward and fits into the arcuated depressions 88 and 89 in the ribs of the brackets 86 and 87 respectively secured to the upright 12 and thusserves to hold said rods in their horizontal position against the action of the counter weight. The rods are supported at about their middle portion by the adjustable brackets such as 100 which can be raised or lowered by an adjustment screw such as 101 whereby the height of the rods can be conveniently controlled and adjusted so that the bore of the reel canbe properly alined with the sleeve 39. When the rods are thus held in their horizontal position by the sleeve 90 the circuit of the driving motor is open and cannot be closed until the rods are returned to their vertical position, thus eliminating all possibility of starting the machine while the spools are being mounted on their spindles. This safety device obviates all possibility of danger to the operator when mounting spools on the spindles of the supply reel bracket due to an inadvertent starting of the ma chine.

The spools are held on the spindles by the spring operated pawls 96 and 97, illustrated in Fig. 9. These pawls project above the surface of the spool holding spindle and are so inclined that when a spool is slipped on the spindle the pawls will be depressed by the central bore of the spool and will return to normal when the spool has been placed in position, after which they serve to hold the spool on the spindle. When it is desired to remove the spool, a removing tool or sleeve 98 is fitted over the end of the spindle which depresses the spring pressed pawls 96 and 97, whereupon the spool can be readily drawn out over the sleeve 98 and from its holding spindle. In pulling the spool off of the spindle the face of the spool hits the pin 99 projectingfrom the sides of the sleeve 98 and thereby removes the sleeve 98 from the spindle in the operation of removing the spool therefrom.-

In the operation of the machine the spools or reels which carry the wire are first mounted on the sleeves 39 fitted over the spindles 35 and 36 carried on the supply reel bracket. For this purpose, especially when the spools are rather heavy, the supporting and guiding rods mounted on the upright 12 of the machine are utilized. For the purpose of making this operation as efficient and simple aspossible when heavy spools are used, these spools are transported to the machine on trucks equipped with shelves which are elevated from the floor a distance equal to the elevation from the floor of the supporting and guiding rods 80 to 83 inclusive. When such a truck has been placed alongside the upright 12 of the machine and the rotating yoke turned through an angle of 90 degrees from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the supporting and guiding rods are thrown to their horizontal position and the spools on the truck are simply pushed from the shelves along the guiding and supporting rods and onto the sleeves 39.

When the spools have been suitably mounted on one side of the supply reel bracket, the handle 74 is depressed whereby said bracket is dissociated from the gear 63 and is thus free to turn about its axis, The supply reel bracket is then turned through an angle of 180 degrees and supply reels are mounted on the other side of said bracket. During the period that the spools or reels are being mounted on the supply reel bracket the supporting and guiding rods are in their horizontal position and consequently the energizing circuit of the operating motor 15 will be interrupted at springs such as 93 and 94 associated with each pair of guiding and supporting rods. Consequently an inadvertent closing of the main motor switch will not start the machine which would be exceedingly disastrous while the spools were being put in place thereon. However, when the spools have been properly mounted, the rods are raised to their inclined position which automatically closes the break in the motor circuit at the switch associated with each pair of said rods.

After the spools have been placed in their proper position on the supply reel bracket, the wires therefrom are threaded through the guide pulleys 57, 58, 59, and 60, thewires from the pulleys 58 and 60 being guided through the pulley 62 and that from pulleys 57 and 59 through the pulley 61, after which the wires are bunched and carried through the wire supply tube 27 to the guide pulley 28. From the guide pulley 28 the wire is threaded through the tubular arm 22 of the yoke and then over the guide pul ley 29, from whence several turns are taken around the capstan 20, after which the end of the wire is carried to any suitable form of take-up mechanism (not shown). The tension of the brake bands 45 and 46 is then; adjusted by means of the adjustable tensioning member 50 so as to control the tension of the wirefed from said spools.

The machine is now ready to be started providing the rate of rotation of the yoke or flier has been properly adjusted with reference to the speed of rotation of the cap stan 20 so that the proper number of twists per unit length of wire will be introduced into the wires that are to be twisted. The number of twists per unit length may obviously be readily adjusted by either reducing or increasing the speed of the rotatlng yoke by means of the gearing interconnecting the shaft of the motor and the yoke, or by changing the gear ratio in the housmg 19 which controls the rate of rotation of the capstan 20.

When the speed of rotation" of the yoke and capstan has been properly determined and the gearing adjusted so as to obtain this speed, the main switch of the motor is actuated to start the rotation of the yoke and; capstan. As the capstan rotates, the wire is drawn from the spools over the various guiding pulleys through the tubular member 22 of the yoke, the wire from the capstan 20 being fed to a suitable take-up mechanism which is started at the same time and the movement of which may be conveniently controlled by the motor 15 which also drives the twisting machine. The wires leaving the spools are guided by the respective pulleys so that they converge and are in eifect bunched as they enter the wire guiding tube 27. This bunch of 4-wire strands is carried through this guiding tube to the pulley 28, and since the pulley 28 is rotated with the yoke, the wires being held stationary as they enter the tube 27, a complete twist will be introduced into these wires for each rotation of the yoke between the point at which they enter the tube 27 and the point at which they are fed around the guiding pulley 28. At the same time that the twist is introduced into the strands of wire, a second twist is being introduced into the strands of wire between that portion of the wire contained between the guiding pulley 29 mounted on and revolving with the up er yoke bracket 18 and the point of contact be tween the wire and the capstan 20. It will, therefore, be evident that as the yoke is rotated and the wire is drawn from the supply reels and fed over the guiding pulleys and aaeaeee the yoke to the capstan they are subjected to two complete tw1stsone between the top of the tube 27 and the guiding pulley 28, and the other between the pulley 29 and the capstan 20for each complete rotatlon of the yoke. Further, it will be evident that these two complete twists are introduced into th wire without any movement of the bee. part of the machine, the supply reel bracket containing the heavy spools or reels which carry the wires remaining absolutely stationary, and hence the rotating mem er of the machine, the yoke, can be built comparatively light and can be rotated at a comparatively high rate of speed, approximating about 1500 revolutions per minute. As the yoke can be safely rotated at this high rate of speed and since two complete twists are introduced into the wires for each rotation thereof, the efliciency of the twisting machine as herein described is substantially 300 per cent. greater than the commercial machines at present used for this purpose.

Although the specific embodiment of the invention herein described shows a machine in which four strands or wires are twisted, it will be quite evident that with the machine here shown either two, three, or four wires can be readily twisted by simply omitting two of the spools when two are to be twisted and one of the spools when three wires are to be twisted. llt will also be obvious that the machine can readily be extended and designed to twist more than four strands, the only change necessary being the extension of the supply reel bracket for the introduction of further spindles to carry the other spools orreels. The number of strands which can be twisted with a machine of this particular design is, therefore, limited only by the mechanical design difficulties which would be encountered if the rotating yoke were increased to an abnormal size. When the number of supply spools or reels to be mounted on the supply reel bracket becomes so large that the design thereof and of the yoke becomes difiicult or cumbersome, the supply reels can be conveniently located on suitable spindles entirely independent of the machine structure, in which case the take-up reel must be mounted on the bracket 34: and the wires must then be fed through the machine in the reverse direction to that hereinbefore described. When the operation of the machine is thus reversed, the capstan 20 is converted into a guiding roller and a positively driven capstan with any suitable take-up mechanism is mounted 'on the bracket 34.

Obviously the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment herein illustrated and described, but is capable of many other applications and modifications without departing from its spirit and scope, as set forth in the following cl.

a stationary strand supply reel What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the character described the combination with a rotating yoke, of bracket, reel mounting means associated with said bracket, reel supporting and guiding means whereby the reels can be readily fed to said mounting means, and means controlled by said last-mentioned means to prevent the application of power for the rotation of said yoke while said means are operated.

.2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a stationary strand supply reel bracket, reel mounting means associated with said bracket, reel supporting and guiding means whereby the reels can be readily fed to said mounting means a rotating yoke, means controlled by said last-mentioned means to prevent the application of power for the rotation of said yoke while said means are operated means for drawing the wires from said reels about said yoke, and means operated to place a double twist in said strands for each complete rotation of said yoke.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my7name this 25th day of January A. D., 191

' HANS HENRIK G. GRONDAHL. 

